In the current era of limited testing and Tyres that require that sweet perfect set up to really perform, every_single_lap would be vital I think. I'd think they gather a rather large amount of data in practice sessions.... though I'm betting a wet track would be irritating to them...

The reasons why they don't / can't do enough laps is more to do with operating restrictions than choice..

Primarily tyres.. They have a FIXED number of dry/wet tyres for the entire weekend - and especially on an entirely wet weekend EVERY set or inter/wet tyres is critical..

At the same time, they need to practice otherwise the car won't be set up properly. It's all good having fresh tyres but what use is it with a car that's not been dialled in any form, then you get the usual suspects like Button saying the car wasn't set up right for the weekend.

Friday: No F1. I'm opposed Saturday: Free Practice, QualifyingSunday: RaceMonday: Free Testing (2 sessions, morning & afternoon). Been discussed forever. The problem I guess is that they don't have new parts to test on a Monday after the race, so why do it. (If they had them ready for Monday, they surely would adjust the schedule to already have them available for the weekend where it counts

they dont do enough laps, can they get enough feedback in such limited running?

We need more of advanced design validation, no less; age old problem. We are about half way in the season, and instead racing, teams are still testing their benchmark position that should have been settled in Febuary, five months ago. These days for some Tier 2 teams problem are resources, mostly financial, whereas Tier 1 has hand-tied with tire related mess and saving simply rubber, instead focussing on traditional set-up.

At the same time, they need to practice otherwise the car won't be set up properly. It's all good having fresh tyres but what use is it with a car that's not been dialled in any form, then you get the usual suspects like Button saying the car wasn't set up right for the weekend.

Yeah but they will have a "reasonable" base setup from the simulator anyway - the on track setup time is mostly fine tuning..

I can guarantee that most of the teams are trying to get away with only using 1 set of Wet & Inters for the whole of today.. Any more and they risk screwing their quali & race due to not having fresh rubber... If the top teams go out and actually test/setup/practice, and a lower team runs the risk of using simulated setup with fresh rubber.. chances are on fresh rubber the lower team will have more ultimate pace.. This means that all we are seeing is everyone is waiting for everyone else at the moment..

im sure practice sessions are important especially as its on track at the race weekend. my question though was on the lines of is it worth it in its present limited form. Do they get enough information from 20 odd laps?

Saving tires was mentioned in one of the interviews, why fans do not see cars running during these sessions. That of course does not implies, that teams would not like to run, and sounds to me more of a choice between a "bad one" and "worse than that" decisions.